San Diego Wave FC has had a good run, making the playoffs three times in its four seasons of existence.
The lone postseason hiccup? The 2024 campaign, when the club was enduring turmoil both on and off the pitch, including three head coaching changes.
Team captain Kailen Sheridan, who’s been a member of the Wave since the team’s 2022 inaugural season, said that she and her teammates are very excited to be back in the playoffs.
“We were really, really disappointed last year. We thought we had the talent and the ability (to make the postseason),” she said. “Obviously there were some external factors that we had no control over. But I think coming into this year, we had a really clean slate. We had a lot of new players, a lot of new staff. Our expectations of ourselves were high.”
That showed this week, as Wave players, like Sheridan, showed their confidence in their preparation as they head into the team’s playoff match against the Portland Thorns on Sunday.
“This is a first playoff for a lot of people. It can be intimidating, it can be intense, but this is
what you play all year for,” said Sheridan, the goalkeeper. “This is what we’ve been working toward for eight, nine months now.”
Wave FC is seeded sixth out of eight teams in this year’s playoffs and will travel to the Pacific
Northwest to take on the third-seeded Thorns on Sunday. The two clubs are very familiar with each other, having played twice in the regular season, with both matches ending in 1-1 draws.
In their 14 head-to-head matchups since the Wave entered the NWSL, San Diego and Portland have each won five matches, with the other four ending in draws.
If San Diego (10-7-9) had won its final game of the regular season against the Kansas City
Current and Portland (11-7-8) had lost that same day, Wave FC would have been the
higher seed.
Despite the difference in seeding, statistics show that the two teams are pretty evenly matched. But some Wave players, naturally, feel their squad is superior.
“I’m excited to head there (to Portland) and get some points and come back home,” Sheridan
said.
Forward Kyra Carusa also said she was looking forward to the trip and made a prediction regarding the final score.
“I love an away game against Portland – I think it’s a fun place to play, and as an opponent, I
don’t fear it,” she said. “So I’m thinking 2-0 us in full-time. That’s what I’m feeling. We love some Portland away goals.”
Carusa, a San Diego native who was acquired by Wave FC in 2023, said her team’s
familiarity with the Thorns is key.
“The most exciting thing is that they are an opponent that we played away recently, in this
(second) half of the season, which I think is very important,” she remarked. “We definitely felt
like we left points on the field, especially in that away game. And I think that gives us a lot of
confidence … knowing that we have points there that we’re hungry to go get.”
The NWSL has a do-or-die playoff format – teams face off once, and the loser is eliminated. The winner of Sunday’s quarterfinal match advances to a semifinal game to be played the weekend of Nov. 15-16. That winner then goes on to the championship, set for Nov. 22 at PayPal Park in San Jose.
“It’s exciting. We have really good chances of beating Portland,” Wave FC defender Hanna
Lundkvist said. “We have played good games against them in the last two (matches). But obviously, they’re a good team.”
“We know how we can hurt them from the last game, so we’ll try to bring that to this game as
well,” she continued. “But yeah, good team and we know their strengths, they know our
strengths, but it will be a great game.”
Maintaining the ball as much as possible will definitely be part of the plan, she said.
“It’s no secret that we really want to have possession in the games and create opportunities
from the back,” she stated. “I think everyone is ready to step it up a bit more. This week is going to be super fun.”
No matter Sunday’s outcome or how far the Wave advances in this year’s postseason,
Sheridan said that the team intends to make another playoff run next year and in the years to
come.
“I think that’s the identity of this club – a playoff team. We have to be in the playoffs every
year,” she said. “Anything less is a failure.”
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